Excavation Map

During the renovation of the ground floor, the concrete flooring was removed, and the foundations of the medieval tower were documented. A distinct feature of these foundations is their depth, which is greatest in the southwest corner (up to 270 cm) and shallowest in the northeast (only 45 cm). The depth was dictated by the solidity and stability of the terrain, as the clay layer above the gravel base narrows towards the west and south, necessitating greater depth. The foundations are interrupted in the eastern wall, which could be linked to the entrance of the former Romanesque Chapel of St. John the Baptist, the foundations of which can be traced inside the tower. This chapel served as a baptistery, which in the early Romanesque period were typically located outside churches, specifically west of the church entrance. Above these foundations lies a leveling construction phase, 30–80 cm thick, upon which the 3-meter thick walls of the current tower rest. Across the center of the tower’s interior, immediately below the concrete slab, ran the foundation of a Roman wall in a north-south direction. Although the tower’s foundations cut through this Roman wall, the latter continues to the east and south outside the tower, indicating the foundations of a larger Roman building. This building included a room with remains of Roman central heating—a hypocaust—visible in the excavation site outside the tower.

Outside the tower, it was determined that this area had been historically active continuously from prehistory to the High Middle Ages, though older cultural layers were heavily damaged by younger ones. The entire external area was excavated to a depth of 50 cm on the eastern side, 100 cm on the southern side, and up to 450 cm in the extreme southwest, where digging occurred along the medieval cemetery defense system.

In cultural pits and postholes belonging to former wooden buildings located on the eastern side, some prehistoric clay wall plaster with wattle impressions and ceramic fragments belonging to a Bronze Age settlement were found.

The Roman period is represented by the foundations of Roman walls running along the east and south sides of the city tower and inside it. Within these foundations, a lime pit with wooden lining on the bottom and sides was found, containing fragments of Roman pottery, glass tear vials, and two pierced shells that served as jewelry. In the extreme southern part of the excavation, two rows of square brick plates were found at the bottom of the Roman cultural layer, with considerable burning between them, indicating the aforementioned hypocaust. Fragments of pottery were also found in this area, the most important being the lower part of a tray or bowl stamped BITVRIX.F, dating it to the 3rd century. Parts of an oil lamp, a bronze needle, broken tegulae (roof tiles), and the mouth of a glass balsamarium were also found. Four bronze coins were discovered at various depths between the Roman foundations and the hypocaust: Tiberius (AD 14–37), Vespasian (AD 69–79), Valens (AD 364–375), and Valentinian I (AD 364–378). Judging by these finds, the existence and development of this Roman building can be dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the time when the provincial city flourished.

Slavic presence is evidenced by a skeletal grave of a woman (girl), oriented east-west, with four temple rings preserved near her head, dating to the 11th century. Three heavily damaged skeletal graves in the immediate vicinity likely belong to the same period; all are located in the extreme southern part of the excavation. An early medieval cemetery around the provost church therefore existed as early as the 11th century, and a cemetery chapel is mentioned in 1314, suggesting the cemetery was likely already walled by then.

The next group of finds consists of building remains and graves whose age is difficult to define, belonging to the medieval and early modern periods. We know that the cemetery existed until 1775, when it was abolished. A broken part of a female sculpture made of yellow sandstone with traces of paint was built into the reinforced buttress of the tower’s southeast corner. In the southwest part of the excavation, a strong wall foundation, over a meter wide, was found running almost parallel to the north wall of the current theater. This represents the remains of the medieval cemetery wall, removed by 1827, after which the terrain around the city tower and provost church was significantly leveled. The fill along this wall contained mainly medieval brick rubble with fragmented pottery, larger kitchen vessels, glassware, minted coins from the early 14th to late 16th centuries, bronze pins, an iron wood drill, iron nails, a damaged iron knife, an iron ring, and some fragments of medieval stove tiles. The medieval and early modern cemetery was largely destroyed due to the lowering of the terrain in recent times, with bones mostly collected on the eastern side of the excavation in a pit—an ossuary—located near the former cemetery chapel of St. Michael on the south side of the provost church. Parts of bone needles with bronze patina, belt buckles, bronze clasps for fastening clothes, pieces of ornamented decorative plates, a bronze button, pieces of thin bronze strips and sheet metal (also for fastening clothes or hair), and a silver coin were found in twenty graves. The graves were dug into yellow-brown loam or the Roman rubble layer. Iron nails and traces of wooden coffins were also found in the graves. In better-preserved skeletons, the hands were clasped on the chest or abdomen.

Among the youngest finds are the aforementioned pierced shells and a small medal made of silver sheet metal with the engraved monogram MARIA, a pierced heart, and sun rays on the oval rim. This medal is dated to the 18th century; such medals and other holy images were souvenirs from pilgrimages and expressions of faith at that time.

The foundations of Roman walls immediately below the pavement around the tower, along with damaged medieval graves and the ossuary, indicate a significant lowering of the terrain around the church in the 18th and 19th centuries. Thus, older cultural layers were brought very close to the current surface, increasing the likelihood of interference with their integrity. The exact height of the removed terrain cannot be determined, but traces on the tower suggest that 100–130 cm of ground was removed. It is possible that the walls of the medieval cemetery were hauled away along with other material, while harder building materials (stone and brick) were incorporated into or used for repairs of the city tower and the reinforcement of its corners.